YOGA IN ISLANDIA

Ancient Remedy for Modern Stress
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
NEWSLETTER – 2006

Breaking News!

Grace Welch has been accepted into the YOGA ALLIANCE, an organization of professional Yoga Teachers, having documented teaching experience of 5,150 hours.

Fall Schedule of Classes:
Hauppauge Adult Ed starts Tuesdays 10/2 thru 11/21

Group classes in Islandia Studio: Private instruction by appointment, in studio or your home/office.

FREE – FULL MOON MEDITATION –

Islandia Studio – 8 to 10 pm To view Yoga Studio & Meditation Garden, visit gracewelch.com.

By Popular Acclaim – YOGA DAY RETURNS! –

For those who want to be a part of it – Mark your calendar now –
SATURDAY – DECEMBER 9 – 10 am to 3 pm. Space limited to 8. Your $50 check reserves your space. 2 hours Yoga Class with Meditation followed by a home-cooked Vegetarian Meal;discussion.

HINDU MYTHOLOGY TID-BIT:

From time to time I have been asked about my adopted spiritual name, Durga, which I gave myself (most students have their spiritual names given to them by the swami at the end of Yoga Teacher Training Course). I have always had a problem with being identified by someone else. I believe that those who have known me for even a short time can understand this self-assessment. I had not known about Durga until 1987. I was introduced to her by a Sivananda staff member at the Yoga Ranch in the Catskills during a Nature Walk to the various temples. Durga was housed in a little wooden temple built on a small bridge over a pond. The temple had a little latched door which you could open, and there she was, a small icon of a goddess, which staff had adorned with flowers and brilliantly colored garments. I wrote a poem about my experience that day, and I share it with you now:

DURGA
Warrior Mother

First learned of Durga on a cold, windy Saturday in the Catskills.
Small, square temple, corner of field,
Multi-armed icon astride tiger, weapons poised.
Flowers, food, water at her feet, placed daily by devotees.

She is our protector, said the aspirant, our nature walk guide.
She is a very powerful diety, a fighter for her children.
She rights the wrongs of the world.

My identification was immediate.
Five thousand years, on the other side of the world,
… a connection.

I wish you good times, good health, good friends.
Namaste,
Grace - Durga

For students interested in learning more about Hindu Goddesses:
"Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition" David Kinsley, University of California Press, 1986

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